Category Archives: Military

Bewildered as such

I have been bewildered for some time, now I see ‘UAE comes under Iranian attacks for second consecutive day: Ministry’ (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/5/uae-intercepts-missiles-and-drones-for-second-day). I have been bewildered on this for some time, you see never mind how the relationship with Iran is, the UAE is still a Muslim nation, it never sought aggression with Iran, it never catered to the United States and as such it makes absolutely no sense to me to fire 549 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,260 drones. These attacks have targeted infrastructure and caused civilian injuries. This is by large the most, even their ‘ally’ Israel (yes, that was a joke) never faced that intense an attack. So when I see that they have had two days of additional attack, I am happy (and relieved) that I gave my military IP to the UAE (Saudi Arabia as well), so as Al Jazeera gives us “The escalation comes amid fears of a return to war between Iran and the US, after Washington launched a new initiative, dubbed “Project Freedom”, to guide vessels through the Strait of Hormuz starting on Monday. About a fifth of global energy exports pass through the narrow waterway. In retaliation for joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, Iranian forces have effectively taken control of the strait by attacking – or just threatening – vessels attempting to cross without Tehran’s permission. The move has triggered a global energy shock, pushing oil and gas prices to multi-year highs.” As well as “Tehran also launched a salvo of 15 missiles – most of them ballistic – towards the UAE on Monday – the first incident after the US-Iran ceasefire came into effect about four weeks ago. All were intercepted, Emirati authorities said, but a fire broke out in Fujairah, home to a key oil terminal. The facility has been critical during the war, handling about 1.7 million barrels per day – roughly half of the country’s export capacity – as it allows shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz via the Gulf of Oman. Three Indian nationals were injured in the incident, which India’s government described as “unacceptable”.” The only thought that makes sense (to the smallest extent) is that the UAE could bypass the Strait of Hormuz, but that is not enough, the idea that the UAE has such a western following is the fact that it has a diversified work setting. As I see it, the UAE is the best place for Iran to get global visibility, that is the best I can come up with and it is for that reason that Iran needs to be destroyed, completely and utterly. They have no wish to get any diplomacy working, they merely want to stall the games they play. It might be a sick view I have, but that is what I am coming up with. The only plus point I see is that now the UAE will see what their true friends are and it can adjust the next steps to better the position of the United Arab Emirates. No matter what they do next, it should be with true friends and real allies. That is merely my view on the matter. And as the needs for the UAE will increase in several directions, there is an opportunity for Google to increase its visibility in Abu Dhabi as from there towards more locations. IBM already preceded them and they are not alone. As I see it, there will be changes and the embassies in Abu Dhabi need to be secured. Personally I am not one to trust Microsoft with that, but a Google/IBM solution might work. And my reason? Well, someone gave us ‘Xbox wants to win you back by removing the Copilot AI it forced upon you last year’ only 7 hours ago and TechRadar gave us 3 hours ago ‘Microsoft has finally realized what most of us knew all along: nobody actually wanted Copilot on Xbox’, a corporation that is so self centered and does not listen to its customers, is not one I am willing to trust ever, but I already had me share of evidence 12 years ago. So that clicked. So, whilst some big tech players are willing to play chicken with the Humvee driving towards you loaded with a beer-keg filled with Nitroglycerine? I’m not (I am watching Vertical Limit, hence the reference). 

As I see it, the UAE needs a strong infrastructure and it requires the correct business partners. As such I am willing to roll the dice on IBM/Google to the standard basics protected. And even as I see all current AI as fake, there is no doubt that Gemini is superior to whatever OpenAI/ChatGPT has, as such some others lose traction. Should Microsoft be eliminated? Nah, tempting, but they did invest Infrastructure & AI between 2023 and the end of 2025, Microsoft will have invested over $7.3 billion, with an additional $7.9 billion planned from 2026 to 2029. As such they have a clear need for the UAE, as well as aiming to train 175,000 students, 39,000 teachers, and 120,000 government employees to drive regional AI adoption (in my view it might ‘accidentally’ be focussed on Microsoft products and not Gemini), but as I see it, that is their right, it is good business sense. But I also see common sense in business sense and as such getting Google towards Abu Dhabi makes sense too (IBM is already there). No matter how you slice it, there will be changes in the UAE. I am not Confused, there is no Mystification and whilst some will say that I am in the dark, or at a loss, I am not, I might be to some extent clueless on what some do and there might be have the smallest smidge of being in the dark but that comes from lacking intelligence on the setting there and it goes hand in hand by some keeping intelligence from us. I get the reason for lacking intelligence, lets face it, no one wants to admit that their product is rubbish and when we consider that nobody actually wanted Copilot on Xbox (allegedly a given fact) we need to wonder why Microsoft is so intent on pushing its premise on whatever they can (my interpretation of that). It fuels mistrust as I personally see it. As such there needs to be an alternative for Microsoft and they did this to themselves. 

You can agree or disagree, that is fine, but I personally believe that the UAE will need reliable business partners, especially in Abu Dhabi and I see that players like Zendesk might need to open offices in the UAE (particular in Dubai and Abu Dhabi) There is a larger need for service solutions to expand into the UAE, whatever hits the UAE next, at some point service points will be affected and its resolution can only be affectively resolved if all the players that need to be there are there. It is nice to ‘rely’ on cloud solutions, but the UAE is under attack and as such whatever  loud solution you use, it tends to lose against a Shahed-136, as such repairs and rollbacks come to mind and they require closer interaction, not a cloud connection to London (or Osaka) there are too many lose ends and that tends to be delimiting to any business. For now I seem to be focussing on alternative military solutions to slap Iran silly (they will be handed to the UAE as well), so have a great day, its 01:00 now and I still have a few hours of snoring ahead until brekkie is offered.

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As oil burns

That is the lesson the Russians are learning. The BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp41v1n1go) ‘Russian strikes kill 10 as Zelensky says Ukraine hits oil tankers and terminal’ where we see “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three Russian oil tankers, a cruise-missile carrier warship and a patrol boat were struck in separate attacks on two Russian ports. There are no details on damage to the ships, but Zelensky said the tankers were part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to evade Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion launched in 2022.” So whilst the Russians struck 10 people, 5 ‘commodity’ items were taken of the Russian board. Paraphrased that comes down to a taker for every 2 Ukrainian lives. I think it is not a proper way to say things, but in value it does ring true. And as Russia is losing more and more, the option to replenish through the selling of oil is also fading. Yes, I know it is not the most elegant way to state things, but it seems that the world needs a wake up call and as I foresee that soon this might be a solo fight between Russia and the United States, as the rest have isolated these two players. So the world sees two megalomaniacs praise and banter all over the field whilst they have to tough it out alone. It remains me of that old hit by Frankie Goes to Hollywood called Two Tribes (1984) and whilst some might remember that hit, some will see the light of the reality that it gives. And Russia? Their option is pretty simple and it was phrased by former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin in one easy step and it was out there for over 3 years “In October 2022, she stated that the only way to end the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. Her direct response, “The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine,”” seems simple, but the effect that the ego of megalomaniacs is that lead ing equals defeat, they cannot comprehend this concept. President Trump not in Iran and President Putin not in the Ukraine and as I see it, the rest of the world is ready to isolate both and they can banter to each other. 

So whilst some will ‘comment’ that Russia only lost 2 tanks, the reality is that they already lost 11,908 tanks, they might not have that many more open to the western front. They apparently only have about 2,500 tanks left and for any ground offensive that is not that much and we have no idea how many of those are the T34 ‘juggernauts’ (from 1939) and when you consider that these encounters are now set to UAV’s and the Ukraine did away with 269,813 of them bad boys and 2,224 of them in the last week alone, Russia has a problem as their supplier (Iran) is dealing with its own losses all over the field, so Russia is almost forced to rely on 1,334,030 dead soldiers, with 1,080 removed from the roll call of life in the last week alone. I reckon that over 900,000 might still be alive if someone in the Kremlin would have taken the words of Sanna Marin in their heart. The likely disadvantage of listening to someone’s ego. So when Russia wants to sell its oil, it needs to remember that 93,556 automotive and fuel tanks can no longer deliver anything, that being said, three oil tankers, for some unexplainable reason, cannot bring oil deliveries either. As I see it, the Russian options are getting fewer and fewer and soon they can only knock on the doors of the United States and whilst the Republican Party is in power, they might not get turned away. So there is every chance that Russia’s state oil firm Transneft will not report income for some time to come. So whilst we hear that the Ukraine has delivered Russia an estimated $7 billion in losses, with March alone seeing over $2.3 billion in revenue losses. These attacks have reduced oil transshipments by 300,000–500,000 barrels per day (bpd), forcing production cuts, reducing exports to their lowest level since 2024, and leaving half of Russia’s oil companies unprofitable. (Source: Al Jazeera) So as most doesn’t have the ability to suffer losses to this degree (I can honestly state that my wallet was never in a position to carry that much revenue) and that is the hidden setting that a lot of the media is not clearly stating. How much losses can any place (like Russia) endure? The media seems to paint with the same brush all matters so that the clarity is not seen, but when you sit and think if it the picture doesn’t make sense. Russia as well as Houthi terrorists rely on Iranian UAV’s and their space parts, but that was scuttled by the United States (as far as we know). Oil is shown its combustable properties by the Ukrainian forces and there is no clear setting for Iran which is getting an explanation by the forces of the United States and Israel. The stage is that both Russia and Iran seems to ‘fare’ in normal ways, but that setting could never be in such a setting. The image is wrong and there is every indication that I am missing parts of the image or revenue streams, but the media has lost reliability and I lack that knowledge to fill in the blanks and no one seems to be answering these questions. So whilst we see oil burning, no one is wondering what replaces that. 

So, have a great day and consider the issues I brought to the surface at this moment.

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The clambake that counts

That is what I believe to see when I look at the NDTV World article. The NDTV World is a global news channel launched by NDTV in October 2024, focused on providing international news from an Indian perspective. And it is giving us ‘Israel Sent UAE Laser Weapon Called ‘Iron Beam’ That Can Vapourise Iranian Drones’ (at https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-sent-uae-laser-weapon-called-iron-beam-that-can-vapourise-iranian-drones-11436712) where we are given “Tel Aviv sent a version of its Iron Beam laser defence system to the UAE, which vaporises short-range rockets and drones. It was first used by Israel against Hezbollah projectiles from Lebanon” together with “Israel had not just sent its iconic Iron Dome air defence system to the United Arab Emirates when Iran was attacking the Gulf country. According to a report by the Financial Times, Israel also sent an advanced laser to the UAE for it to defend itself from Iranian missiles and drones. The deployment of the advanced laser would be one of the first examples of major defence co-operation between Israel and the UAE. The two countries did not have diplomatic relations until US President Donald Trump brokered the 2020 Abraham Accords.” I reckon it is a step in the right direction, a setting that ‘should’ come with the destruction of its weapon systems as well as its infrastructure. My (stated limited view) on this is that when Iran infrastructure goes down, all Iran has it a surplus of trucks now needed to give the infrastructure parts to places using trucks, especially as its trains fail to work from A to B, or they are forced to use part A via C,D,F towards B, you can see the haunting delays that give and should someone take care of the out the harbours, than the equation is simplified from the second part of the Alphabet to get to locations A and B. We are also given “A regional official told the publication that the laser system was a display of “the value of being Israel’s friend”. Israel also sent over an advanced surveillance system known as ‘Spectro’ to the UAE for it to defend itself against incoming drones from as far as 20 kilometers away, especially the Shahed’s.” It seems that the attacks from Iran will have the nasty side effect that the gulf states are now ready to accept Israel cautiously in the midst, another failure of the IRGC I reckon. Add to that the systems I ‘gifted’ to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and we see an evolving setting that that should become the end of Iran and whatever teeth it imagined it had. 

And whilst the article ends with “A western official noted that the UAE became one of Iran’s primary targets in part due to its “enthusiastic” embrace of the Abraham Accords.” This could be the case, but it merely did they opposite and I wonder what the real reason could be for Iran to attack the UAE so viciously. We could speculate all we want, but I reckon my creativity is better served by creating optional weapons to aid the UAE (Saudi Arabia too) to counter whatever Iran throws at the UAE. It seems more productive to me. And as I completed my three sided attacks on the infrastructure of Iran, the one part missing seems to be the destruction of water and energy. I am partially against that, because water is life and that tends to be a one way ticket to the destruction of ones soul and at that point Iran validly start crying like a little girl. I wrote in the past a way to deal with its oil refineries, which could also be used for its energy settings, but I wonder whether bombing is the right call. I see a version that ‘eats’ away at the energy settings of Iran, but it is not immediate, still that damage would take month to fix (at the least), but here I am worried that it could escalate setting tool, because the ‘innovator’ the think its opponent is taking this lying down is delusional. So the Bushehr nuclear plant and aging hydroelectric facilities should be taken care of, I already wrote a solution to the Bushehr plant some time ago (somewhere in December 2021) but I have no knowledge of Hydroelectric facilities, so I don’t know what would be optimal and just bombing it to the stone age is not a good solution because that is a long term solution that is never a solution. I prefer a surgical trike that sets the ‘repairs’ of such a place towards months. That’s just how I am, taking it all away from an enemy frees up ‘resources’ to strike back, optional repairs commits whatever he has to resolving the issue, it seems a much better approach to dealing with an enemy like that and make no mistake, at present Iran is an enemy to the west and the gulf states at present and whilst it emits whatever friends it has, it will see that his ‘friends’ are anything but that making their own plights fail most of the time. 

So whilst I have no real setting towards the NDTV stage, I am willing to live by the setting that as long as the UAE embraces that solution, it will be fine by me. You all have a great day, almost time for me to contemplate what’s for dinner (in about 4 hours).

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Delaying the matter

That is what I see, but it does not mean that this is the real setting. It might be a simple setting that resides between my two ears, but the story given is making me wonder what is going on. The story started 15 hours ago in Inside the Magic where (at https://insidethemagic.net/2026/04/conflicting-reports-about-a-possible-delay-at-disneys-disneyland-abu-dhabi-project-over-iran-tensions-rl1/) I was given ‘Disneyland Abu Dhabi Delayed? Conflicting Reports Swirl as Middle East Tensions Cloud Disney’s $10 Billion Dream’ Inside that article we see

I never met Jim Shull, he is a Former Walt Disney Imagineer with 33 years of experience under his belt, who worked on projects like Shanghai Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. I have an issue with this ‘timed’ delay. It sounds like the next average Disney setting to bring forth delay so the only they are allowed there (besides all who are there already) and throwing amounts across like that $10,000,000,000 is the piece of cheese to let the others bite the dust. I do not favour this setting and as I see it, America has a lot of problems coming up in 2026 and 2027, their tourism numbers are highly likely to drop further. As such anyone (serious parties) should be allowed to get to Abu Dhabi and if Disney is about to drop delay after delay, their place in the best stream of tourism on the planet will be set to forfeit. But this is only my view on the matter and there is likely enough opposition to my idea. Don’t get me wrong, there is likely a delay, but as I see it 6 months to a year. Nothing more and if Iran will resume its attacks on the UAE and other gulf states. I handed my Military IP to the UAE free of charge, as such I have done my duty to the UAE (to Saudi Arabia too). Whilst the crypto-bitches are heralding the downfall of the UAE, I gave the UAE optional settings of defence, to destroy the infrastructure of Iran, without bombing it to the stone age (that is too America a solution) and whilst they are alleged to have used up to of April 2026, the U.S. military has severely depleted its missile stockpiles, expending roughly $24 billion in major munitions during the first seven weeks of the Iran war. Over 45% of Precision Strike Missiles, 50% of THAAD interceptors, and 1,100 long-range cruise missiles were used, leading to critical shortages that could take 4 years to replenish. Funny, because the weapons I designed would cost no more that one billion max (for all three solutions) and would also be ready for sale increasing the coffers of the UAE. So, it is fun to see my optional solutions outperform DARPA by a lot (or so I say).

But this is not about me, it is about Disney. So as we are shown “In a tweet from late April 2026, Shull highlighted the conflicting reports” about the park’s progress. Shull, who often emphasizes the reality of “lines on paper” vs. “boots on the ground,” suggested that the current regional instability makes the ambitious construction timeline virtually unattainable.” It is hard for me to comment on that, it would be his word against Disney, but a delay of years is seemingly out of the question (my personal view) and I also think that the executive council – government t of Abu Dhabi should talk to the Dutch player ‘the Efteling’ and this is not some random place. I saw it several times in my youth, it has been a contender for the big prices for a long time and they were able to capture 2026 IAAPA Brass Ring Excellence Award (Best Sustainability Program), 2025 Golden Ticket Award (Best New Family Attraction), 2025 Thea Award (Outstanding Achievement), 2018 Thea Award & Park World Excellence Awards, 2017 & 2018 Best Theme Park in the World, ANWB Best Day Out in the Netherlands, the last one is a Dutch award and they won that several times, including 2024, 2021, 2019, 2017.  I think it would be a good idea to introduce the UAE to other solutions (beyond WB and Disney) and the alleged delays might be a good reason to look to additional sources. The UAE will need every option to be used if there is to be traction to gain tourists, that is clear. 

Inside the Magic shows one side that is missing almost everywhere else. “Shull’s commentary points to a fundamental reality: theme parks are not just creative endeavors; they are massive infrastructure projects that require stable supply chains, thousands of international workers, and a secure environment for future tourists. With missile strikes recently reported in nearby Dubai and the temporary “darkness” of several parks at Dubai Parks and Resorts, Shull’s skepticism carries weight. Many industry watchers interpreted his tweet as a sign that internal discussions at Disney may be far more focused on “risk mitigation” than “exchange of ideas.”” There is a good side to risk mitigation, any business needs to do this and Iran is throwing sand in every cog they can. I personally see this as an act of desperation. The Iranians are allegedly tired of their republic, the people are tired of the Iranian republic and that includes the Gulf states the people in charge are scared of their options outside of that republic, as such their desperation. But the Inside the Magic article illuminated that there are people who are scared of risk, they have had their cushy jobs for too long and consider the wheeling and dealing of a nation where they are gaining wealth whilst sleeping. Disney is allegedly looking at what is real and that is fine, but the delay of years is about something else. They fear the competition and they fear their infrastructure in the United States collapsing. So they want some form of exclusivity, which is a big no-no in my view. Exclusivity is fine if you are building and participating, not so much as you are delaying. The UAE must do what is best for the UAE and its citizens and the word ‘delay’ does not hold water in that equation. It seems like these business analysts are all about maximizing profits at zero risk, when did that happen? Because any endeavour comes with risks, it always has. 

The article also has two views and they sound good. 

The views are good, but I have a personal issue with “the company waits for a more favorable global climate” it is a realistic view, but lets remember that their own President started this. And the conflict is in a state where we have no idea where anything is going and that is not good for the UAE, but until Iran is resolved (optionally deleted from existence) that is what it is. I cannot change this or make it better, only to do what might be of use to the UAE, it is all I can do.

Have a great day.

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How many?

ABC just told me that an hour ago ‘US boosts Iran war assets with third aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush’ (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-25/uss-george-hw-bush-arrives-middle-east-military-assets-boost/106601060) with “About 5,000 troops and dozens of fighter jets are aboard USS George HW Bush.” The additional “The USS George HW Bush entered waters near Iran after a week of chaos in the Strait of Hormuz, with no sign of peace talks resuming.” The setting we have been given “We won, Iran is lost” should be casually dismissed. We are given “The USS George HW Bush strike group is comprised of nearly 5,000 sailors, the US Navy said. It includes the flagship carrier, which comes with nine aircraft squadrons. The George HW Bush is also accompanied by the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Ross, USS Donald Cook and USS Mason. The US describes Arleigh Burke-class destroyers as the “backbone” of the navy’s surface fleet, designed to provide mission capabilities such as anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare.” All whilst we now see that The Bush is joining the carriers USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln. It is a little off putting that there are three carriers there now. I am not the most tactical person you have ever met, but when you consider that the IRGC would consider an aircraft carrier to be a nice trophy, why do you think they consider three of these bad boys are? But, they have nothing to fear, as President Trump stated that they had already defeated Iran, they were bombed into the stone age (I am paraphrasing here), so those three carriers have nothing to fear, do they?

We also get a list of deployed units, from ships to drones and I realised that the IRGC needs but a spare to unite this in a full blown war. One visionary act and it could be anything, a tanker rigged as a kamikaze item, a modern version of the fire ships of 1588. Now ships are more defended against fires, but what about acid probes on the keel of the boat? You can defend all you want, but the idea that was overlooked can scuttle a fleet and that is the setting that the United States is overlooking. The IRGC is for all intent and purposes desperate they will try anything. Ad in this strait, this small patch of water, the United States deployed 24 vessels, all on that small patch of water. It takes merely a spark to ignite it all. I personally belief that this is the latest folly in a whole range of bad decisions. 

So whilst some give us ‘US envoy and Trump’s son-in-law to travel to Pakistan amid hopes for renewed Iran peace talks’ the delays and denials of issues makes me think that Iran is not done plotting yet, it is not done scheming and no matter how desperate they are, the desperate will make unpredictable jumps and here we have a unique setting with three aircraft carriers in one patch of water. I have no idea what Iran will do, but they would want to send a signal heard all over the world and as I see it, the United States is currently ‘fueling’ that. In addition we get words from Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City giving us ‘The Ponzi Economy Is Breaking’, yesterday on April 24th we are given “Is another financial crisis brewing in the US economy? Economist Michael Hudson explains the dangers.” Reports suggest the US economy may be on the verge of another financial crisis, with major problems in the $3 trillion private credit market. Economist Michael Hudson explains the dangers of Wall Street’s Ponzi schemes.” This is funny, because on April 2nd in ‘The idea is not novel’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/04/02/the-idea-is-not-novel/) I gave the world “That is what I feel at present. CNBC gave us all 12 hour ago the ominous title ‘Trump is paying TSA agents — but where is the money coming from?” Where I raised “Where does the money Trump is using come from? How much is available? How long can Trump continue to pay TSA agents if Congress doesn’t soon come to a deal?” You think they are unrelated, yes they are unrelated, but there is cause and effect. If the IRGC ignites that spark, what do you think happens next? 3 carriers and 5000 troops bring a while’s range of bad media to the surface. It would be a range of “United States doomed” to “Iran beats United States” and every media will be howling for digital dollars attention.

And most likely I am wrong, remember? Iran lost the war weeks ago, they have nothing to bring to the table. But what happens if I am proven right? Think about that and think on the United States economy when that Ponzi scheme setting blows up in the faces of Wall Street. Just something to think about. Have a great day.

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For a few Yuan more

So, yesterday I saw a MarketWatch article (at https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-real-meaning-of-uae-reportedly-requesting-a-dollar-swap-line-6a40d630) where we see ‘The real meaning of UAE reportedly requesting a dollar swap line’, now don’t start running like a half baked cryotoboy to it’s mommy stating the world is ending (like we saw to weeks ago when some of them ran off to the airport), the byline gives us a clear “Economists believe the UAE is signaling it wants closer ties with allies, not a bailout” and I can agree with that. I have not seen seen any Emirati panic, or make bailout mentions. We are given “A report the United Arab Emirates requested a dollar swap line with the U.S. may be more a threat the Gulf nation could shift an alliance rather than a sign it’s about to run short of the American currency, observers said.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE central bank governor, Mohamed Balama,  requested a currency-swap line with the U.S. from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent while in Washington D.C. last week. The UAE is facing pressure from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, though experts say its economy so far is strong enough to maintain a dollar peg.” It comes with the additional “Tim Ash, senior strategist at RBC Bluebay Asset Management, pointed out in a posting on X, that sovereigns do not request swap lines lightly. Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign relations agreed, also highlighting on X that he doesn’t believe UAE is in any emergency need of financial assistance, given it entered this conflict with huge holdings of U.S. Treasurys and significant forex reserves in excess of $250 billion. It’s important to note that the Emiratis have asked for a swap line and not a credit line.” And that is supported with graphics on ‘UAE forex reserves versus holdings of U.S. Treasurys, in billions of dollars.CFR’ and those numbers look good, even a non economist (like me) can see that the numbers of the UAE are good. Yet what we are also given is “Gave suggests, the UAE may be “sending a not-so-subtle message to the U.S., namely “leave the region and you will quickly be replaced by China.”

It might make sense and considering the damage that the United States Congress, a document produced on April 9th 2026, by Paul Kerr gives us “Iran’s nuclear program has for decades generated widespread concern that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons. According to past U.S. intelligence assessments, Tehran has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons at some point but has halted its nuclear weapons program and has not mastered all of the necessary technologies for building such weapons. The extent to which June 2025 and February 2026 Israeli and U.S. airstrikes affected Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons is unclear.” with the added “According to official U.S. assessments, Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003. This program’s goal, according to U.S. officials and the IAEA, was to develop an implosion-style nuclear weapon for Iran’s Shahab-3 ballistic missile. A 2025 public U.S. intelligence assessment stated that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon” and that the now-former Supreme Leader had “not reauthorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated on March 4, 2026, that the agency “never had information indicating that there was a structured systematic [Iranian] program to build or to construct a nuclear weapon.”

So, there was no real nuclear danger? And the Strait of Hormuz was open before this clambake started? It seems to me that the UAE (optionally with support of all other oil producing gulf nations) should give warning to not mess with their background, especially as it is roughly 7,000 miles away from Washington DC, as such no international waterways (connected) to the United States are in danger.

But in addition to the MarketWatch article, we see the Canadian DeepDive giving us (at https://thedeepdive.ca/uae-threatens-yuan-oil-trade-if-us-denies-dollar-lifeline-as-iran-war-drains-reserves/) ‘UAE Threatens Yuan Oil Trade if US Denies Dollar Lifeline as Iran War Drains Reserves’. The first part of opposition (by me) is that MarketWatch shows that the reserves are good. Basically DeepDive is not lying, reserves are seemingly being drained and that does not imply that the UAE reserves are in danger. But here we see “Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama brought the proposal to Federal Reserve officials and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington last week, the Journal reported. Abu Dhabi’s position, relayed through multiple officials: the war has strained its finances, dollar reserves could come under pressure, and if Washington does not provide a liquidity facility, the UAE may have little choice but to settle oil and gas trades in yuan or other non-dollar currencies. Emirati officials also told their US counterparts that Trump’s decision to attack Iran was what drew the country into the conflict to begin with. No formal application for a swap line has been submitted.” It is like the message Louis Gave, chief executive officer at Gavekal Research gave us, we merely get more information here. So like MarketWatch we see here “a bilateral currency swap with the Federal Reserve — would allow the UAE Central Bank to draw down dollars against dirhams at the prevailing exchange rate, effectively insuring against a hard-currency crunch without requiring emergency asset sales. 

The Fed currently holds standing arrangements of this kind with five central banks: the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank. Extending one to the UAE would mark a meaningful expansion of the Fed’s wartime financial commitments.” I am not enough of an economist to see the larger implications, but as I see it, President Trump started shitting in its economic backyard and now the people affected are saying (my of voicing it) “Stop this or we walk away from the US dollar in trade”, now you might think that I am overstating the ‘danger’ but consider that the US dollar is already under stress from a 39 trillion dollar debt (aka $39,000,000,000,000) and now when the Dollar trade offset is impacting trade other means of revenue would seemingly fall away, because it is never a simple setting (is it), and this would be the Home Run that China would love to see evolve. Do you really think this would be merely about oil? When oil starts, others will seek shelter and that is before others dump their $5 trillion (aka $5,000,000,000,000) in US treasury bonds. There have been noises that smaller amounts were ‘dismissed’ but the larger amounts are a worry for Wall Street, they are highly unlikely able to survive this pressure, as such the United States Administration better come up with a solution and quite fast. 

All this whilst Al Jazeera gives us ‘Iran war live: Uncertainty over talks, Trump insists deal to come ‘quickly’’ with the added “Iran says it has no plans to send negotiators to Pakistan for a new round of talks after the United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Still, President Donald Trump says US team, led by Vice President JD Vance, is on its way to Islamabad” So, one has no plans to send someone, whist the other states someone is on the way? How is that communicating? How is that any solution? That is the premise (given to us 14 minutes ago) that someone like China needs to dethrone the US dollar, so when China gives a solution in the next 24 hours, whilst President Trump starts commenting on his big beautiful solution for the world, the premise of the United States Dollar being removed from the oil trade becomes real. Do you really think that this is just about oil? Because this setting would require the better part of a decade to unwind. It is too early for me to say that the US dollar is out of this, but the other elements might make the pressures of the Dollar in the oil trade unmanageable. 

It is merely my point of view, no biggie. Have a great day, still 120 minutes until breakfast for me. I, hungry, all whilst it is lunchtime in Vancouver, what a bastards.

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The bare numbers

Politico gave us less than I day ago that Iran fired over 90% of its missiles and drones on civilian infrastructure targets. With ‘UAE official: More than 90% of Iran’s targets were civilian infrastructure’ (at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/19/united-arab-emirates-iran-civilian-infrastructure-00880064) we see a few facts. The first is the absolute worthlessness of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations and from me there is no reason to call him ‘His Excellency’, his silence on this matter is deafening. We are given “Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation, said during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that Iran was seeking to destroy the UAE’s “model of prosperity and tolerance.” With the additional ““We used our oil wealth to build an economic powerhouse. They used their wealth for nuclear programs that are nefarious, for missiles, drones, proxies, etc.,” she told host Jonathan Karl. “So whereas we tried to become and have become an international, global, responsible player, they are a pariah state. And they wanted to break that model, but they underestimated our resolve.” The UAE has faced a barrage of attacks from Iran since the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran in late February. While the Gulf state, like many of its neighbors, initially opposed the war, it has since shifted its tone as it considers how to avoid the breakout of a larger regional war.

It seems to me that the United Nations is failing is plenty of ways, but perhaps they are busy playing host to another mission at present.  He ends with “Asked if she harbored concerns about Trump’s threats, Al Hashimy said the UAE believes that “maximum pressure” is necessary to move forward, while cautioning against civilian attacks. “Ultimately, we don’t want to hurt the Iranian people. That’s very important to mention. But at the same time, it’s the Revolutionary Guard that have taken forward a military stance and a posture not against the U.S. and Israel alone, but against the very neighborhood that they operate in through the Gulf states.”” I hope that the UAE optionally is willing to test the solutions I handed them (and the KSA as well) to destroy the infrastructures of Iran as well (I published them over the last month, one for shipping, one for trains and optionally one for trucking). It was my personal believe that Iran options come to a stand still when all three are hit. 

The fact that it seemingly is Politico illuminating that side of the nastiness of the Iranian war will find its way to the mainstream media soon enough. 

On the other side, the BS setting of influencers who give us that the Dubai mall is empty, usually with a picture of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on the starting page is making me angry, as such an image of the entrance to the mall of Dubai less than 24 hours ago.

I think that Google needs to do something about the use of misinformation on its YouTube pages. I am all for freedom of speech, but that comes with a healthy dose of accountability.

It seems that the UAE is under attack from several parties, not just Iran, it is easy to hide behind the bare numbers in the middle of Ramadan, but Ramadan is now over so whilst over a million people are attending the Hajj, an event that Saudi Arabia just officially opened the doors to, we need to see what is real and what is not. Perhaps the idea of a web view outside of the Dubai mall and perhaps some other places, so that the world can see the BS that these wannabe influencers are handing you.

Just a thought to entertain, I remain a decent ally of the UAE and the prosperity and goodwill they advertise. And even as Iran is still attacking Abu Dhabi, visiting Yas Island remains a firm number one on my bucket list for now, so it is my wish that the Harry Potter addition to Warner Brothers Theme parks, especially as the ones in the United States are basically no longer a good idea.

Have a great day

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The danger of assumption

I saw the CBC news, then I saw a YouTube video and as there is some relation, I thought it important to illustrate this as I am a Commonwealthian, as such I stand with Canada. The news (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lockheed-martin-officials-canada-tout-maintenance-plan-f35s-9.7168398) where we see ‘Lockheed Martin officials coming to Canada to tout maintenance plan for F-35s’ I the first degree I was clearly on the Canadian side (I still am, in case you worry). We were given “Canada ordered 88 F-35s in 2023, but began reassessing its options after Trump took office” with an additional “Canada has a firm order for 16 F-35 aircraft, to begin delivery later this year, to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18s. As CBC recently revealed, Canada has discreetly begun to incur expenses toward acquiring another 14 F-35 aircraft. Several politicians have been invited to Tuesday’s event in Mirabel, but National Defence Minister David McGuinty and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly do not plan to attend. Senior American executives from Lockheed Martin and L3Harris are expected at the event.” It comes with the added “In its media advisory, Lockheed Martin said its agreement with L3Harris “will provide Canada with greater control over aircraft maintenance, reduce reliance on overseas logistics and enhance operational readiness.” L3Harris is still trying to convince the governments of Canada and Quebec to offer funding to help modernize its facilities in Mirabel. The company has said thousands of jobs in the region are at stake. L3Harris is hoping to transform its Mirabel facilities, which are currently used to service CF-18s, into a maintenance depot for Canadian and American F-35s.” As I see it, it is an act of desperation. The much larger setting of the Saab JAS 39 Gripen a Swedish solution, is cheaper, is more reliable in cold environments and it comes with added of economic settings for Canada. Lockheed Martin has no real answer and President Trump made the sale of 88 F-35 a liability and Canada is looking for a better solution, one that takes the pressures away from the United States giving Canada. The Swedish solution makes perfect sense for Canada and as such Canada is seemingly (I use seemingly as I have never seen the original sales documents) chasing Sweden and its Saab solution. The simple bottom line is that Canada can get 2 Saabs for every F35, as such it is quite the cost saving. As such Lockheed Martin is scared, its own president endangered the sale for billions and that is a problem, as such the options given to Canada is fluidic, more options and there is the fear factor, a fear factor for the United States, because Canada when it pulls out the American pillars of economy and taxation are almost certain to collapse. And Lockheed Martin is the first corporation to fae billion dollar losses because of the silliness of one particular person in Washington.

The setting that spending on nearly any kind in the United States are seen as the more risky spending is now seen as other spending settings is considered and there is a win for Sweden as well as the EU on other fields. There was a second setting, but it seems that there is a level of inaccurate settings by Today Canada stating that yesterday at 03:45 Trump stated “51st state soon”, it would be anger instilling, but I found no evidence that this actually happened and if it was on Trump social media, everyone would be shouting it. 

So that is not a factor, but the underlying setting is (which the media is ignoring too) the underlying setting is that the United States is (as I personally see it) almost completely out of cash. They are shifting all kinds of posts that they can pay later for what they need to pay now. I have given these views in the past (not interested in hashing out the same) but the setting adds up. As such I believe that CBC is reporting on the desperation of gaining the favour of Canada and they are willing to bend over backwards. And as a definite winner is not announced (not in the media) Lockheed Martin believes it has options for now. And whatever the actual sentimentality is towards Canada, there is a firm believe that President Trump has actually united the world. As far as I know the United States is now (for the most) the most hatred nation in the western world. So president Trump united all the nations. The fact that it is against the united States might be a mere blip on his radar. The problem is that the media is no help as they lost too much credibility and as such the influencers and doom speakers are now calling for out attention (players like Today Canada) and should they be right, then they should present the evidence, not just the images of old, with suiting dialogue. And as I usually check all the sources handed to me, Today Canada fell through the basket a fake news bringers.

But the setting is still of importance not directly what President Trump did or did not do, but the need to vetting the information we get must be vetted. Some (like CBC) get a pass through the credibility they earned over time, which means that there is credibility. 

So as we see the desperation of Lockheed Martin and the setting of the Saab Gripen, it would help if the world (and Canadians in particular) get a nice setting of what the story with Saab and Lockheed Martin is, what has been agreed upon and what is clearly set and what is still in tentative settings. We all get that there are tentative settings, but as I see it, with the United States any other option seems more reliable (as I personally see it). 

And whilst we can assume most things, we can at times presume a few things and those with reliability are more credible and with personal exposure to facts presumption gains more weight and those who blindly assume will lose whatever reliability they had.

Have a great day.

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The old ways

That is what I see, Iran is picking up the settings of the old ways and it is damaging (I prefer hurting) Saudi Arabia. We are given ‘Saudi Arabia Confirms Iranian Strikes on Key Assets’, ‘Saudi Arabia says oil production capacity cut, pipeline flows hit amid attack on its facilities’ as well as the Middle East Eye that gives us ‘Attack on Saudi Arabian pipeline wiped out 10 percent of kingdom’s oil export capacity’, as I see it Iran is still playing the same old game. Attack someone, cry like a baby and then propose a standstill while they rearm. I am happy I have given Saudi Arabia (the UAE as well) the weapon systems I designed for them to take out the Iranian harbours and train systems of Iran. I found a new setting for the roads, but that is a story for another day. I have been thinking of what to do about the drones. There is not a lot of information on this and I am what some might call a drone noob. But the setting is that a drone requires fly by wire settings and as I got the information that they are not using GPS (to avoid jamming) but that requires a drone to get information send back and forth with the operator. Even at minimal settings, there is a lot of information going back and forth. So then I got to think, what if we are looking at the wrong parts? 

So this is where my (uneducated) mind started to brood. That part of water is the Sea of Dammam (calling it the Persian Gulf is Iranian propaganda). So what if there is a line of drones, floating on the surface, two every three miles and that gives us a setting of strength. The floaters are operated from a point of contact, optionally upgrading their automatic settings on the fly. I reckon that these camera’s are not the greatest devices fitted with anti hacking systems. So, what if the anti drones devices are fitted with the ability to hack and freeze the screen. A drone in flight with a frozen screen becomes useless and without the GPS they will go on until they run out of energy. And that was an exercise I completed in under an hour. So, what will happen when I am no longer a noob on that subject and come to think of it, I had created a more precise drone with my assumption with the Iranian drones I thought they were (I created two stories in the past few months). But the idea of these drone stoppers, might have an interesting ploy to exploit. Beyond the screen freezers, the idea to use some form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to set the drone that it faces a Distributed Denial of Navigation (DDoN) attack, making the adjustments that drones faces unable to be completed. And when a floating drone is fitted with DML (Deeper Machine Learning) to give rise to adjusted attacks and float the drones with thousands of flight adjustments. OK, this was on the fly (pun intended) but the effort counts. So, how many adjustments have drone repel systems seen?

And the idea to give some IP towards the enemies of Iran and deprive Iran enough to turn them into useless cash spending individuals. Well, it is a small comfort and when the idea pans out to take down Iranian Drones, I am all for giving this IP to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop that Iranian setting. The events that this comes from will in the ‘assumed’ seize fire is another reason to get to Iran to fail for all of this.

So am I wrong to do this?

The short answer is no (yes takes one extra character), the setting comes with the knowledge that what ever is stopped now, will force Iran to evolve its drones, as such Israel (most likely) would need to attack the chip shipments of the Shahed drones. Should someone look into “Recent analysis (2025) of Russian Geran-2 drones indicates increased use of Chinese-made transceivers and chips (e.g., from Beijing Microelectronics Technology Institute) and Indian-made clock buffers.” Should see that these drones come with flaws. This makes my idea of nets of floating drones a solution with larger options. You see, two ‘solutions’ used to create a third one, leaves the system with flaws. Look at it like from another side as some sources “the physical, structural, or data-related “memory wall” or defects within the chip’s architecture, or the current global, supply-chain-driven shortage of memory chips (DRAM/HBM)” So what if the ‘drone downer’ solution uses these locations to embed whatever is available? These settings are used in all kinds of ways, so as these banks or memory come under attack, optional in more than one way and perhaps any other settings available. 

The setting that I am drafting here is pure speculation, but the premise seems to fit. Unless the parts used are specifically designed what is what for, the setting of my speculation would seem to hold and shape a larger failure of Iran (which is what we are aiming for) and I am optionally acquiring an additional skill. I am having a weird Friday as it seems. So when we are looking at the optional evidence we should see options. The media is trying to make things as convoluted as possible, Iran might be doing the same and the victims want this setting to be resolved. And as I stand on the side of Saudi Arabia and the UAE I have the same setting. We are in a new setting and whilst we want to overcomplicate things, we need to see that these devices might have certain ways of operating and as the are designed, using parts meant for other devices. It led me to consider settings, perhaps old settings might seem to apply. In the age of the Commodore 64 and the 8088 PC processor, there were stages where memory could bleed into the system. In the old days it was different, but today, we have self expanding memory blob (a pun and clue) and as these memory points are overloaded, there is every chance that other parts might start to flip out (read: misalign) the parts the drone require to operate above the minimum required levels to do its duty.

I am looking in places that others aren’t facing. Whatever the drone is, it is not using specified materials to make it work optimum, they are required to work with other chips and that leaves the opponents with gaps and that is where seemingly no one is looking. 

So consider these speculations the speculations of a noob with no knowledge of drones, but I believe that is the direction where we need to look so that the efficiency of these drones go down from 20% to a mere 1.5% (which is a huge win for poor poor me) and seeing Iran waste $55 million on drones that inflict $753 of damage, yay me. 

But let there be no misunderstanding. It is all speculation and speculation has the expected premise of being shot out of the water. This would be fair, because all speculation, even mine are prone to actual evidence and when that lacks the idea drowns. But it was a nice exercise into a diversion I know absolutely nothing about. Have a great day and on my next trick I will scuttle the Pentagon textual computer that is linked to Router linked to 311078802 at the PenFed Credit Union. Life can be sweet some times and I do have to stand up for my Canadian brethren (sisters too).

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What he said

That is the setting we are no longer dreading. The bully tactics are starting to fall on deaf ears and whilst we are to some degree used to the setting that President Trump is handing us:

Screenshot

Of course the timeline ended and ABC gives us ‘Iran war live updates: Donald Trump suspends bombing for two weeks, Iran pledges safe passage through Strait of Hormuz’ which happened 10 hours ago. But the setting is now a bigger thing. We see several media giving us that the Republicans are ‘siding’ behind the Democrats who want him impeached. That setting is not enough for the world. You see, the words “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” This would be considered an illegal order by the commander in chief of the USA armed forces and there is a rule about illegal orders (I might have forgotten that rule), seemingly one does never obey illegal orders. And now the world gets to see how useless the United States has become. It comes across like a rabbit dog with a leash that goes until the end of its garden, but seemingly no further. And that comes with a peppered invoice. As I see it (I could always be wrong) that Iran will now cry at the international courts of the Hague for being attacked without a clear war statement and the media has repeated those words often enough and as such there is every chance on Iran will claiming over 600 billion dollar in damages to land and the Iranian people. This will also invite the gulf nations to make claims of hundreds of billions of dollars for damages to their national revenue and damages to their land settings and they can get this in the first from Iran and in the second setting from the United States of America and Israel. Because no matter how Israel has a reason to do this, it was involved in an illegal war (as I see it) but that last part remains to be seen. 

So am I wrong? You see all these attacks by Iran were in the pst proxy wars through Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi forces, as such it will be about evidence. But as I see it, there will be enough evidence around to see that Iran will not get away Scott free. So as the world will see the damages and the evidence to be brought to court. The second tier in all this is the claims that some made that Iran will demand $2M per vessel per passing through the Strait of Hormuz, too many repeated those claims to be ignored, and there is an upside to this. 

You see, not all of it belongs to Iran, and at least several miles will be in the capture of Oman, so if these ships pay Oman $100K-$1M we already have a minimum 50% discount and none of it ends up In Iranian hands. I might be oversimplifying this, but when did anyone make a clear case for the Omanian side? And at that point if these ships are still attacked, NATO, Australia and India will have a clear case to come in to the rescue and Iran will not have a foot to stand on. Perhaps Oman will not resort to ‘blackmail’ and they will take goodwill from several nations for that in return, but that would be up to Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said who is the ruler of Oman (as I see it), as such, what options did anyone explore in the sultanate of Oman? I haven’t seen the media look into that direction in any way as far as I looked into it and these settings were clear for weeks. And yesterday (at https://quincyinst.org/2026/04/07/the-war-will-end-with-a-hormuz-toll-booth/) the The Quincy Institute stands for responsible statecraft gave the world ‘The War Will End With a Hormuz Toll Booth’ we see “The legal terrain is complicated but not insurmountable. Under international law, the entire width of the strait at its narrowest point consists of the overlapping territorial seas of Iran and Oman, with no high seas’ corridor between them. Iran cannot unilaterally charge a toll on ships hugging the Omani coastline. However, a bilateral Iran-Oman transit authority would eliminate the legal ambiguity. Oman gets a revenue stream and more strategic relevance.” I am still in favour of screwing over Iran because of the attacks they made on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but that is me, a little vindictive gremlin in most times. The fact that there is a clear part that is Oman is seemingly ignored, but maritime law is clearly pronounced on what is national waters, they tend to get a little murky on these bottlenecks, but still there is part of this that is Omanian and the media is clearly not looking at this part. Why not?

It might be a case for another day and it is important that the setting of Oman is clearly set here, because if whatever proceeds happens, it needs to have the proper legal stage to proceed. So whilst we might take a giggle to illegal orders and to bully tactics. The clear setting is that the illegal war (as I personally see it) was done on Iran, Iran closed the strait, none of this would have happened if Israel and the USA had not attacked Iran. It seems to be a simple assessment. 

If we are to proceed can wee please do so in a legal way (without posturing and ending civilizations)? It might make for good media, but the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague are all about prosecuting transgressors for genocide and war crimes. As it stands President Trump might be guilty of one and an alleged other crime. As such it might get flaky and weird in the Netherlands soon enough. By the way, if you are there to report on the setting, one of the best places to eat Herring near the ICC is here:

It is a Dutch delicacy (especially with unions) so go wild, I say.

Have a great day and consider the Omanian setting. Who reported on that in the past month?

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